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Yoga
Chapter II
Faith and
Devotion
(Shraddha)
Dear practitioner! You must be curious to
know how that supreme knowledge can be attained within one’s own
self. In order to attain that you have to well understand the method
of practice of that divine path of yoga. Only a devoted and alert
person attains knowledge through control over his senses. After
attaining knowledge soon he finds that supreme peace which is the
inner demand of every individual being.
Shraddhavanl
labhate jnanam tatparah samyatendriyah Jnanam labdhwa param
shantimachirenadhigacchati !(Gita 4-39)
To attain this divine knowledge which is basic to eternal
peace, if a person does not adopt the means of devotion etc., and
rather conducts himself contrary to that, then be sure, the one who
has neither self knowledge nor dedication, and he who is a sceptic,
is bound to perish; since for a sceptic there is neither this world
nor the other nor even happiness. e.g. in Shrimadbhagwadgita Lord
Krishna says:-
Ajnashchashraddhadhanashcha
samshayatma vinashyati Nayam lokosti na sukha samshayatmanah
(Gita
4-40)
With the help of Yoga
therefore, destroying all the past actions, and by means of
knowledge piercing through all the doubts, one who is full of
spiritual power, can not be bound by any type of actions.
An individual, who has made the effect of his actions
fruitless through yoga, had finished his doubts through real
knowledge and has become self-confident, having realized spiritual
power, can never be bound by any type of action e.g.:-
Yogasamnyastakarmanam gnanasamcchinnasamshayam Atmavantam na
karmani nibadhnanti dhanamjaya (Gita 4-41)
So has
encouraged Lord Krishna to mankind through Arjuna. “O dear brave
warrior (in life)! You destroy all the doubts (sprouting out of
ignorance) with the help of real knowledge and through the internal
urge of desireless action be ready and firm to face every kind of
situation”:-
Tasmadaganasambhutam
hritstham jnanasinatmanah Chittwainam samshayam yogamatishthottisha
Bharata (Gita 4-42)
The aforesaid divine message is worth accepting and following
for everyman. Undoubtedly the man who follows the divine path of
yoga as directed by Lord Krishna will attain salvation and help in
the making of a harmonious society, thus fulfil the mission of his
life. The only need is to march forward in the light of this thought
with faith and devotion.
A person having realized Supreme knowledge deserves eternal
peacefulness. Without the development of this discriminating faculty
i.e. the ability to differenciate the right and the wrong, even the
worldly routine of life can not be run properly nor can be gained a
due respect in society, how can be possible a transcendental
peace.
Just as a
person even having gathered all the ingredients for preparing meals,
can not satisfy his hunger unless and until he knows how to prepare
the dish or if he tries to prepare any eatable through mere bookish
knowledge without the proper guidance of some expert cook, will have
to face some ill effect on health through half-baked or improperly
baked eatables. Similarly man has got all the potentialities of
knowledge in himself, but without knowing and adopting the proper
method of its development and exposition, he under the pressure of
ignorance, feels restless, worried and unhappy. Some people after
having a little bookish verbal knowledge engage themselves in the
practice of Yoga, they in the absence of some proper instructor,
have to receive so many diseases and pains – causing peacelessness –
that is not good and desirable. So as according to Lord
Krishna:-
Tadviddhi
pranipatena pariprashnena sewaya
Upadekshyanti te gnanam
jnaninastattwadarshinah(Gita 4-34)
i.e. one should go to some
spiritual master with faith and devotion; offspring himself for his
services wit humble salutations, should express his curiosity for
the attainment of that real knowledge. Those great philosopher
saints, seers of Truth would preach you the proper methods of
attaining pure knowledge.” After that you will be free from all the
confusions and would be able to see all the individual souls with
your own and yourself with the others.
The practice that leads to the state of such a universal
vision, along with the complete faith and devotion needs constant
keenness and control of the senses also (Tatparah samyatendriyah).
First of all, the complete faith and devotion in the words of the
holy scriptures and the spiritual master is very necessary without
that no one can have even the touch of the knowledge of the Real
self – as according to St. Tulsidas:-
“Bhawanishankarau vande
shraddhavishwasrupinau
Yabhyam
vina na pashyanti siddhaswantasthamishwaram” (Shriramacharita Manas
– Bal Kand)
i.e. the practitioners –
even having observed innumerous observances can not realize that
supreme soul abiding in their ownself, without this faith and
devotion been represented by Lord Shiva and Parvati Bhavani. The
term Shraddha implies the strong faith in the words of Guru (the
spiritual Master and the holy scriptures) just like in a
perceptional experience. No religious performance proves to be
fruitful without this devotion (Shraddha).
“Ashraddhaya hutam
dattam tapastaptam kritam cha yut Asadityuchyate parth na cha
tatpretya no iha” (Gita 17-28)
i.e. any charity,
donation, austerity or ritual, performed without faith and devotion
is completely unsuccessful and wrong for this life and for the life
next even, rather that type of action is called Asat (Improper
unfair). The base of all the religious and Yogic performance is the
feeling of Shraddha (devotion). Even in “Patanjal Yoga Darshan” (the
authentic scripture of yoga) Shraddha has been stated as the first
step in the process of Yoga practice.
Shraddhavirya-smriti-samadhi-prajna-purwak
itresham
Again in Geeta Shraddha has been told to be a great useful
qualification of a practitioner i.e.
“Shraddhawananasuyashcha shrinuyadapi yo narah So api muktah shubhamllokan
prapnuyat punyakarmanam”
(Yoga-Darshan)
i.e. even a person, who
refrains jealousy, only listens the holy dialogue with faith and
devotion, is freed from all the past bad impressions and deserves
the divine abodes available to the virtuous people. What to say
more, devotion is the base of the practice. According to Lord
Krishna:-
Shraddhamayoyam purusah yo
yacchraddhah sa eva sah (Gita 17-3)
i.e. this individual is what ever
its faith and devotion is – as a person becomes the same about what
and whom he has got complete faith and mental inclination. Other
wise austerity or any hard practice without devotion brings nothing
except the increasement of toil, exhaustion and feeling of egotism.
But we should not forget that these aspects faith and devotion are
vitalized with the next Tatparata i.e. the constant keenness and
interest in the practice, that shall be explained with details in
the next.
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